It is known that there is an object detecting device which detects whether a specific object (detection object) is included in an area of a detecting window by template matching or the like while scanning the detecting window on an image that is taken by a camera. According to the object detecting device, in detecting the object on the image, when the detecting window is scanned by shifting the detecting window pixel by pixel, an operation amount is increased. Therefore, there are a number of proposals for an object detecting technology which reduces an operation amount.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-015771 describes an image recognizing device which is featured in including extracting means for extracting a determination object area from an input image taken by a camera, recognizing means for recognizing presence of a specific object by comparing an image of the determination object area and a reference image, and interval controlling means for controlling an interval of positions of extracting the determination object areas by the extracting means based on a position thereof in the input image. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-015771 describes that the extraction is carried out again by reducing an extraction interval at a vicinity of a position at which it is determined that a degree of coincidence with the reference image is comparatively high by a recognizing processing by the recognizing means.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-140315 describes an object detecting device of detecting a detection object from an image which is featured in including an image acquiring unit which acquires the image, an identifier device which inputs a detecting window area image that is set with a detecting window from the image that is inputted from the image acquiring unit, and which outputs a determination of whether the detection object is present in the detecting window area image, and a reliability that indicates an assurance degree of presence of the detection object in the determination, detecting window controlling means in which the higher the reliability, the shorter the scanning interval of the detecting window is set thereafter, and determining means for determining whether the detection object is present based on an output from the identifier device.